Somalia's parliament has voted overwhelmingly to extend its term for three years, despite failing to pass any laws in the last six years. One member, Abdirashid Ali, said its biggest achievement so far has been refurbishing the parliament building. He blamed the lack of progress on the civil war that has racked the country for 20 years.

The UN-backed government controls only a few neighbourhoods in the capital with the help of 8,000 African Union peacekeepers, and the parliament is frequently mortared by Islamist insurgents.

The 500 members receive $300 a month each from the United Nations. Thursday's vote was attended by 435 members; 421 voted for the extension.

"The Somali parliament voted today to add three years more to their term," speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden told reporters. Members said the next step was for parliament to elect a new speaker and deputy in the next sitting, while the president was expected to present himself for re-election, if he wished so, by July.